Mystery Bird: Glaucous-winged Gull, Larus glaucescens

Is that not a black-backed gull? From its, uh, darkish back?

Ooh, another fun one.

I'm leaning toward this being an adult Western Gull. I could see Herring Gull (and probably at least a few others, too), but I prefer Western for the following reasons:

* The mantle (what you can see of it) looks like a good shade for Western in that it's relatively dark. It's maybe a bit lighter than what I'd want, which would move the needle in the direction of some other possibilities, but I'm not sure that the video is giving us a particularly faithful view of the exact shade of gray there.

* The long neck and general proportions that we can see seem good for Western.

* The beak structure and markings look Western-ish to me, especially that bit of gonydeal expansion.

* Western Gull is really common in coastal southern California, where a lot of film and video production gets done. I do some surreptitious birdwatching on my way to and from lunch in the courtyard of the Santa Monica office park where I work, and the large majority of gulls that come to bathe there are Western (with a smaller number of California and, lately, the occasional Glaucous-winged thrown in). So I could imagine a Western Gull being handy when this commercial was being made.

First of all, this is an adult large white-headed gull in breeding plumage. I might also say it's a Western Gull, however, most Western Gulls have light eyes, which makes this gull 'curious'. Perhaps it is the lighting and it is on a TV screen. Its bill seems a bit stout for a Western Gull, again that could be due to angle. However, if it is actually stout it could be a Great Black-backed Gull. Without seeing its wing tips and legs I don't know that this gull can be positively IDed.

At the Superbowl you say? Obviously not a Seahawk, then.

Ooh, what an interesting mystery photo for the day! Good idea.

I agree though that I don't think you could ever be positive on ID from just this shot. It does seem to have a very stout bill, maybe too stout and thick for Herring. Does look like a Western bill.

I don't think you can do much in ID'ing from this shot based on mantle color. Could very well just be the screen presentation/contrast which give the appearance of a dark mantle. I wouldn't read much into the eye looking dark on this photo either. I'd bet that's more a function of lighting and resolutino of the original TV shot than any real eye color characteristic.

I too would go with Western, but don't think it could ever be confirmed.

Given the location and the dark eye, I'm going for Glaucous-winged Gull. It's about the same size as the Western Gull, meaning huge, and it fits the pic here - the main field mark (wingtips the same color as the back) being entirely out of sight. The black-backed gulls are more East Coast birds.

Hm. There's a little (but not much) more visible in the youtube version of the ad. It was for Ivar's, a chain of seafood restaurants in Seattle.

According to this article, the ad agency that worked on it is Heckler Associates in Seattle, so I called them up and asked if I could talk to someone about the ad.

I ended up talking with someone there named Steve, who told me that the gull was photographed on the waterfront in Seattle. (I neglected to ask what time of year the photo was taken, though in hindsight that would have been useful, too.) He said he might be able to help me see a more-complete version of the photo of the bird, so I sent him my information (including the URL of this page), and am waiting to hear back.

So, knowing that the bird was photographed in Seattle, I think Western (or maybe Glaucous-winged) are the strongest possibilities. If we can get an image that more reliably shows the mantle color, I'd think we'd be on pretty solid ground calling it one way or the other.

Oops. I just tried posting this, but I included a bunch of URLs and I think that made my submission go into the moderation queue.

I phoned up the ad agency that made the commercial (Heckler Associates, in Seattle), and someone there named Steve told me the bird was photographed on the waterfront in Seattle. So I think that helps narrow things down a lot; I'd say either Western or Glaucous-winged are the likeliest choices at this point.

I asked if I might get access to a more-complete version of the bird's photo; still waiting to hear back about that.

amazing detective work, john! i shall have to send you a prize to reward you for your diligence.

You're all wrong. It's Jonathon Livingstone Seagull, down on his luck and doing ads.

Steve Tucker at Heckler Associates was kind enough to forward this image to me. He accompanied it with the following note:

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Unfortunately, the Seagull used in the Ivar's spot was derived from more than one bird (using Photoshop). Attached is the source image that we used to make the single bird. Hope this helps.

In checking out the image, I'm not quite sure which bird or birds were combined to make the ad. But I'm pretty sure that whichever ones were used, they were Glaucous-winged Gulls.

Thanks, Steve!